Browns coach Hue Jackson is convinced his players didn’t laugh at rookie quarterback Cody Kessler’s blooper Friday night in a 17-11 preseason-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers.
On first-and-10 at the Browns’ 1-yard line, Kessler dropped back and rolled to his right under pressure from linebacker Reggie Gilbert. But before Kessler threw the ball, he inadvertently stepped out of bounds in the back of the end zone, giving the Packers two points via a safety with 9:56 left in the fourth quarter.
After the embarrassing play, wide receivers Andrew Hawkins, Taylor Gabriel and cornerback Tramon Williams were shown on WEWS NewsChannel5’s telecast smiling and laughing on the sideline. Rookie safety Derrick Kindred smiled, and outside linebacker Nate Orchard smirked in the background.
The sight prompted analyst Solomon Wilcots to share the following opinion on the air: “See the veteran players. Now he’s going to hear about that one in the meetings. OK? Everyone has their welcome to the NFL moment. That was it for Cody Kessler.”
Moments later, Hawkins and Gabriel were shown smiling again along with rookie wide receiver Corey Coleman while Jackson spoke to Kessler on another area of the sideline.
Jackson insisted Kessler’s teammates weren’t laughing at him.
“No, they weren’t laughing about that,” Jackson said Saturday during a conference call. “I would guarantee you that. I think you’re reading into a little something there.”
Despite the gaffe, Kessler didn’t hang his head in the locker room after the game. He explained he became confused about the location of the boundary because there were two lines painted in the back of the end zone. Kessler chose to stay within the wrong one.
“That’s on me. I’ve got to see that,” said Kessler, a third-round draft pick from the University of Southern California and the Browns’ fourth-string quarterback. “When I was rolling back, I saw that second line behind the end zone, and I thought I had room. I was going back and that second end zone line, in my head as I was spotting it, I thought OK, I had to the back of that line.
“That’s why when I threw it, they called safety, and I looked down and I was like, ‘No, oh.’ It kind of caught me [off guard]. But it’s not an excuse. I’ve got to [have] more awareness on that and know where I’m at on the field, and I’ve got to see that. The fact that I looked at the second line and kept thinking I had more room is still on me. It’s not an excuse. I’ve got to do better.”
Jackson said he doesn’t consider the way the lines were painted a mitigating factor.
“We have to be very aware of where we are in that situation, and Cody understands that,” Jackson said. “Then again, I can’t put him in that situation.
“He’ll learn from it, and that’s something that we don’t want to have happen ever again. We’ve got to grow from that.”
On the Browns’ final possession, Kessler was sacked by defensive tackle Christian Ringo for another safety.
Injury report
Jackson revealed first-year wide receiver Rannell Hall suffered a fractured fibula with 6:05 left in the third quarter and will miss the entire 2016 season.
“It’s unfortunate,” Jackson said.
Third-string quarterback Austin Davis remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Jackson reiterated what receiver Terrelle Pryor said after the game: X-rays on his left hand were negative.
Backup theories
Considering the starting offense’s lackluster outing, does the fact that Hawkins and Coleman (hamstrings) sat out along with wide receiver Josh Gordon (quadriceps) give Jackson any solace?
“It is in the sense that there’s a lot of good football players that were standing on the sidelines and it isn’t because sometimes that’s just the way of the National Football League,” Jackson said. “Sometimes guys get hurt and you got to find a way to score touchdowns and win games when you don’t have those guys.”
On the flip side, the Packers’ starting linebackers didn’t play: outside linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers and inside linebackers Jake Ryan and Sam Barrington.
“I didn’t think of it that way because I still want to believe that the opportunities that we had were still there,” Jackson said. “I didn’t think that our opportunities had anything solely to do with the defense. It’s more our own inability to execute at a high level.”
Extra points
• Incumbent kicker Travis Coons didn’t attempt a field goal, but Patrick Murray made one from 46 yards. Murray has had the upper hand in camp, too, even if Jackson won’t say it publicly. “He’s challenging [Coons]. That’s for sure,” Jackson said. “I’m not going to say he’s ahead.”
• Jackson said he thought the following young players performed well: rookie defensive ends Emmanuel Ogbah and Carl Nassib, rookie cornerback Tracy Howard, rookie wide receiver Ricardo Louis and Kindred.
• The Browns will practice Sunday, but it’ll be closed to the public. The last practice of camp open to the public is scheduled to run from 3:15-5:45 p.m. Monday.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.